Chalukyas of Badami

  General Description   The Chalukyas of Badami (or Chalukyas of Vatapi) ^[1] ruled over an area roughly corresponding to the modern-day Indian states of Goa, Karnataka, Maharashtra, Telangana, the region of South Gujarat, half of the state of Madhya Pradesh, the Rayaseema district and half the Andhra district of Andhra Pradesh. ^[2] This polity was founded in 543 CE, when Pulakesin I established the capital of Badami or Vatapi, ^[3] and it was supplanted by the Rashtrakuta polity in the 750s. ^[4] The peak of the polity can be considered to correspond to the reign of Pulakesin II (609-643 CE), who re-established his dynasty’s power throughout much of the Deccan after a period of instability, further extended the empire’s bounds through a series of successful military campaigns, and founded new dynastic lines in eastern India and in the Gujarat region. ^[5]
Population and political organization
At the head of this polity was an emperor, who often ruled over conquered territories indirectly, through feudal subordinates or family relations. ^[6] The emperor was also the polity’s supreme military commander. ^[7] In both military and administrative matters, he was assisted by the sandhivigrahika, or minister of war and peace: the only minister in the emperor’s council mentioned explicitly in Chalukya inscriptions, and probably the most powerful. ^[7]
No population estimates for the entire polity could be found in the literature. However, the capital may have been inhabited by as many as 70,000 people. ^[8]

[1]: (Kadambi 2007, 158) Hemanth Kadambi. 2007. ’Negotiated Pasts and Memorialized Present in Ancient India’, in Negotiating the Past in the Past: Identity, Memory, and Landscape in Archaeological Research, edited by Norman Yoffee, 155-82. Tucson, AZ: University of Arizona Press.

[2]: (Kamath 1980) Suryanath Kamath. 1980. A Concise History of Karnataka: From Pre-historic Times to the Present. Bangalore: Archana Prakashana.

[3]: (Kadambi 2007, 178) Hemanth Kadambi. 2007. ’Negotiated Pasts and Memorialized Present in Ancient India’, in Negotiating the Past in the Past: Identity, Memory, and Landscape in Archaeological Research, edited by Norman Yoffee, 155-82. Tucson, AZ: University of Arizona Press.

[4]: (Basavaraja 1984, 62) K. R. Basavaraja. 1984. History and Culture of Karnataka: Early Times to Unification. Dharwad: Chalukya Publications.

[5]: (Sastri 1960, 212) K. A. Nilakanta Sastri. 1960. ’The Chalukyas of Badami’, in The Early History of the Deccan, Vol. 1, edited by Ghulam Yazdani, 201-46. London: Oxford University Press.

[6]: (Dikshit 1980, 219-21) D. P. Dikshit. 1980. Political History of the Chalukyas of Badami. New Delhi: Abhinav Publications.

[7]: (Dikshit 1980, 267) D. P. Dikshit. 1980. Political History of the Chalukyas of Badami. New Delhi: Abhinav Publications.

[8]: Christopher Chase-Dunn 2001, personal communication.